Disclosed in the embodiments herein are improved systems and methods for automatically sequentially turning over the pages of a book, such as to provide for their improved sequential digital imaging or viewing, with rapidity, reliability and safety (minimizing damage to delicate or valuable books). Further disclosed in these embodiments are improved systems and methods for improving book page turning systems by improved flattening and/or holding book pages stationary for improving the imaging of the book, which may be provided automatically in automatic coordination with automatic sequential page turning.
Page turning technology for reading or imaging extends back in time for at least approximately 100 years, to an automatic page turner developed for reading U.S. plural page folded census forms for example, and to various special devices built for the photocopying or microfilming of official records and other books. However, even though page turning and imaging is a long-standing art, there continue to be problems, and/or a lack of suitable products, for providing various desired features of low cost, speed, reliability (prevention of skipped pages, pluralfed pages, or folded-over pages, etc.), and/or protection from damage of old, fragile paper, and/or rare or valuable books.
With the development of improved and lower cost digital imaging, digital data storage, OCR, data compression, and data transmission technologies, as well as electronic books, the internet, xe2x80x9con demandxe2x80x9d printing, remote printing, the xe2x80x9cinformation explosionxe2x80x9d, etc., there is an increased need for more rapidly, reliably and safely automatically digitally reading and storing the pages of many prior hardcopy books, including out of print books, especially conventionally bound books (but also books in the broader sense of paper brochures, pamphlets, etc.). Improvements in laser or multipixel imager (e.g., linear and two-dimensional imaging arrays), image processing and manipulation, digital OCR, etc., have made digital imaging of physical (hardcopy) printed books much easier, cheaper and faster. Optics and software has even been developed for compensating for image distortion from the inherently curved surfaces that an opened thick edge-bound book typically has unless subjected to excessive flattening pressures that could damage the binding.
However, the development of technology for sequentially suitably presenting the pages of books for such imaging (broadly referred to as book page turning herein) has not kept up. Especially, for doing so automatically but non-destructively, without cutting out the pages of a book into separate sheets to be imaged manually or fed by an automatic document feeder into a conventional sheet imaging device such as a digital scanner/copier. Much book imaging has heretofore actually been done by sending books to third world countries for reducing the costs of fully manual copying, with inherent delays. Some specialized niche market devices for turning pages for handicapped people to read have also been developed, not suitable for accurate higher speed book page digital imaging systems.
Many government, educational, and commercial institutions have huge libraries of printed books they would like to transfer into digital formats to reduce the costs of storage, make the information available remotely, and make the information available for electronic searching. This increases the need for a system able to turn large numbers of book pages quickly and reliably and also to hold these sheets stationary, and flatter, for imaging.
Various apparatus for automatically turning the pages of books are known in the art. The following patent disclosures are noted by way of some examples (some of which also show or describe book imaging systems): Ricoh U.S. Pat. No. 5,390,033, issued Feb. 14, 1995, on a face up digital book scanner and page turner, and other art cited therein; and the following Xerox Corp. U.S. Patents: U.S. Pat. No. 3,484,970xe2x80x94Automatic Sheet Turner Using A Rotating Vacuum Head; U.S. Pat. No. 3,800,453xe2x80x94Page Turning Device; U. S. Pat. No. 3,939,587xe2x80x94Page-Turner for Books and the Like; U.S. Pat. No. 4,102,071xe2x80x94Automatic Page Turning Apparatus; U.S. Pat. No. 4,545,141xe2x80x94Automatic Document Page Turning Apparatus; U.S. Pat. No. 4,663,873xe2x80x94Page Flipper for Book Copying; U.S. Pat. No. 4,673,286xe2x80x94Frictionless Vacuum Feeder for Book Copying; U.S. Pat. No. 4,916,839xe2x80x94Page Turning Apparatus; U.S. Pat. No. 4,942,482xe2x80x94Automatic Page-Turning Device; U.S. Pat. No.5,325,213xe2x80x94Image Reader and Book Document Reader with a Page Turning Capability for an Image Forming Apparatus; U.S. Pat. No. 5,471,277xe2x80x94Book Document Reading Device Having a Page Turning Capability; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,612,791xe2x80x94Bound Document Imager with Air Jet Page Turning System.
Of particular interest as to the concept of using a vacuum head on a pivoting arm to acquire and turn the pages of a book are U.S. Pat. No. 3,550,296 issued Dec. 29, 1970 to J. F. Castagna; and Xerox Corp. U.S. Pat. No. 5,640,252 issued Jun. 17, 1997 to William D. Turner, et al; and other art cited therein.
Also noted as to book copying background art, as to various book imaging systems, and book holding systems, are: U.S. Pat. No. 3,888,584xe2x80x94Semi-Automatic Document Handler; Rank Xerox U.S. Pat. No. 4,068,950xe2x80x94Variable Platen Cover; Xerox Corp. U.S. Pat. No. 4,143,960xe2x80x94Retractable Support Member; U.S. Pat. No. 4,693,594xe2x80x94Platen Transport and Vacuum Plenum for Book Copying; U.S. Pat. No. 4,793,812xe2x80x94Hand Held Optical Scanner for Omni-Font Character Recognition; U.S. Pat. No. 4,980,720xe2x80x94Document Reproduction Machine with Enhanced Book Copying Capability; U.S. Pat. No. 5,012,275xe2x80x94Right-to-Left Scanning System for Copying Documents or Bound Books; U.S. Pat. No. 5,084,732xe2x80x94Book Copying Machine; U.S. Pat. No. 5,119,206xe2x80x94System for Printing Bound Documents; U.S. Pat. No. 5,177,617xe2x80x94Book Edge Copier Inversion Sorting; U.S. Pat. No. 5,212,568xe2x80x94Method and Apparatus for Scanning a Signature Document; U.S. Pat. No. 5,276,530xe2x80x94Document Reproduction Machine with Electronically Enhanced Book Copying Capability; U.S. Pat. No. 5,359,207xe2x80x94Wedge Scanner Utilizing Two Dimensional Sensing Arrays; U.S. Pat. No. 5,475,505xe2x80x94Canted Platen Input Scanner; U.S. Pat. No. 5,619,302xe2x80x94Apparatus and Method for Scanning a Bound Document Using a Wedge Shaped Platen; U.S. Pat. No. 5,636,006xe2x80x94Apparatus and Method for Scanning a Bound Document Using a Wedge Shaped Platen with a Moving Mirror; U.S. Pat. No. 5,726,775xe2x80x94Method and Apparatus for Determining a Profile of an Image Displaced a Distance From a Platen; U.S. Pat. No. 5,760,925xe2x80x94Platenless Book Scanning System with a General Imaging Geometry; U.S. Pat. No. 5,764,383xe2x80x94Platenlelss Book Scanner with Line Buffering to Compensate for Image Skew; U.S. Pat. No. 5,835,241xe2x80x94Method for Determining the Profile of a Bound Document with Structured Light; U.S. Pat. No. 5,847,846xe2x80x94Apparatus and Method for Scanning a Bound Color Document Using a Wedge Shaped Platen; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,056,258xe2x80x94Bound Document Imager.
Further by way of background art, the protecting of a book""s binding while copying or imaging the book by holding the book in a xe2x80x9cVxe2x80x9d configuration, rather than flat, typically with an inclined xe2x80x9ccornerxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9croofxe2x80x9d type platen, is disclosed in various of the above-cited patents. Such a V-shaped book platen and/or book cradle is disclosed with a digital scanner in, for example, the above-cited Xerox Corp. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,056,258, issued May 2, 2000; U.S. Pat. No. 5,475,505 issued on Dec. 12, 1995; and also in U.S. Pat. No. 5,847,846. Additionally noted on a xe2x80x9croofxe2x80x9d type platen for a book copier system is a Xerox XDJ publication Vol. 12, No. 5, September/October 1987, pp. 231-2. Also, U.S. Pat. No. 4,585,334 based on a GB 034478 of Dec. 24, 1983, by the British Library Board, in which apparently the book is held right-side up in a V-shaped book support and scanned by an overlying wedge shaped surface scanner housing with a window in one face. Also noted is a German DE 3546404-A1 Offenlegungstag of Jul. 2, 1987 with a roof shaped double platen for simultaneous copying of book pages.
As noted, disclosed in the embodiments herein is an improved book page turning system including an improved system for automatically flattening and holding, after each turned-over book page, the exposed pages of the open book, to retain the open book pages flatter for improved viewing and/or imaging, e.g., with less optical distortion, and for reducing the tendency of sitiff book pages to move and/or stand back up after being turned. As disclosed herein, this may be done without having to hold a heavy glass plate xe2x80x9cVxe2x80x9d or half-V platen against the open book, or vice-versa, optically interposed in between the book text and the book imaging system as in much of the above-cited art. Such a glass plate platen may become optically contaminated by paper lint, etc. Also, intermittently imposing a glass platen may require a relatively high powered and heavy mechanism for rapidly moving such a heavy glass book platen or pressing plate up and down to allow for the next page to be lifted up and turned over before providing each page imaging. Also, pressing a large flat glass platen heavily against the entire page, or both pages, of an open bound book, or vice versa, can damage the book binding, or even damage delicate image areas of a book, such as delicate page inserts, attachments, photographs, smearable or flakeable inks, or the like.
As shown in these embodiments, the open book pages flattening system disclosed herein can even operate without ever touching the text, or other imageable portions of the book. That is, by engaging only, or almost only, the central edge margins or xe2x80x9cgutterxe2x80x9d of the book, to push the upper pages outwardly toward the book edge. As also disclosed in the embodiments, this can desirably be done in cooperation with then clamping the outer edge margin(s) of the book page(s) after the flattening operation, before the removal of the flattening member, and before the imaging, to hold the flattened page(s) stationary for imaging.
Because of the known factor of beam strength of paper or other print media sheets to resist curvature, and the typical curvature of those sheets when bound into an edge bound book which is opened for viewing, the pages of open books often bulge and/or move, especially after the pages have just been turned. If a page moves during a time in which the book is being scanned for being digitally imaged, for example, data can be lost and/or images distorted. Thus clamping the book pages during imaging to keep them from moving is desirable. Heretofore that has typically been done the same way as for the page flattening, by pressing the book down against a glass platen, or pressing a V-shaped glass platen down onto the open book, before and during imaging, as in the above-cited references, with significant disadvantages as discussed above. In contrast, the cooperative page clamping system shown in the embodiments also does not need to press against or engage the text areas of the open book.
With the disclosed embodiments, a book and its pages can be handled very gently, without tugging or pulling on the sheets, without bucking the sheets, without scuffing the image areas of the sheets, and without damaging the book binding or the book pages. Also, without interfering with or interposing obstructions, such as easily contaminated glass platens, in the optical path for imaging the pages of the open book. Even allowing both open book pages to be imaged at once, if desired. The disclosed embodiments can provide, along with the above and other advantages, positive single page acquisition, robust page separation, and gentle page flipping (turning) without excessive page bending.
A specific feature of the specific embodiments disclosed herein is to provide a method of book page turning in which the individual pages of a book with a gutter and outside edge margins, which book is being held at least partially open, are sequentially automatically turned over from one side of the book to the other side of the book; the improvement comprising, applying a flattening force to only the gutter of the book for flattening the pages after an individual page has been at least substantially turned over, and clamping only outside edge margins of the book in coordination with said applying of said flattening force to the gutter of the book, said coordination including terminating said applying of said flattening force to the gutter of the book before imaging of the book and after said clamping of both of said outside edge margins of the book.
Further specific features disclosed in the embodiments herein, individually or in combination, include those wherein said applying of said flattening force engages only non-imaged gutter areas of the book, and/or wherein said clamping of only outside edge margins of the book engages only non-imaged edge areas of the open pages of the book, and/or wherein said applying a flattening force to only the gutter of the book for flattening the pages after an individual page has been at least substantially turned over is by intermittently applying against said gutter a flattening member which is smaller in area than the pages of the book, and/or wherein said applying a flattening force to only the gutter of the book for flattening the pages after an individual page has been at least substantially turned over of only the gutter of the book is by intermittently pressing there against a flattening member which is V-shaped and much smaller in area then said book pages, and/or wherein said applying a flattening force to only the gutter of the book for flattening the pages after an individual page has been at least substantially turned over is by intermittently pressing against the gutter of the book a flattening member which is generally V-shaped with angularly opposing sides and a flexible connection between the opposing sides, which V-shaped flattening member automatically expands the angle between the opposite sides of the xe2x80x9cVxe2x80x9d from said pressing against only the gutter of the book, and/or wherein said sequential automatic turning over of said individual pages from one side of the book to the other side of the book is by a book page turning system comprising a vacuum head for acquiring, lifting, and reciprocally moving an individual book page on one side of said book to the other side of said book and then releasing said book page on said other side of said book so as to turn over the individual pages of said book sequentially without damage, and/or wherein the book is supported in a partially open condition in a V-shaped cradle, and/or wherein said sequential automatic turning over of said individual pages from one side of the book to the other side of the book is by a book page turning system comprising a book page acquisition member acquiring, lifting, and reciprocally moving an individual book page on one side of said book to the other side of said book and then releasing said book page on said other side of said book so as to turn over the individual pages of said book sequentially without damage, and wherein said individual book pages are sequentially imaged after said automatic turning over of said individual pages from one side of the book to the other side of the book, and/or a method of book page turning of a book, with a plurality of individual pages having unimaged outside edge margins, in which the book is being held at least partially open to expose individual pages of the book, and in which individual pages of the book are sequentially automatically turned over from one side of the book to the other side of the book; the improvement comprising, automatically clamping only said unimaged outside edge margins of at least one said exposed individual page of the at least partially open book against the book in coordination with each said sequential turning over of said individual pages of the book, and/or further comprising, imaging at least one said exposed individual page of the at least partially open book while it is so clamped, automatically releasing said clamping, automatically turning over another said individual page of the book, automatically clamping another said unimaged outside edge margin of another said exposed individual page, and imaging at least one said another exposed individual page of the at least partially open book while it is so clamped, and/or further including engaging at least one book flattening member against only a central unimaged area of the book in coordination with said automatically clamping of only said unimaged outside edge margins of the open pages of the book in coordination with each said sequential turning over of said individual pages of the book, and/or a method of imaging the individual pages of a book with gutter margins, which book is being held at least partially open, and which individual pages of the book are sequentially automatically turned over from one side of the book to the other side of the book; the improvement comprising, applying a flattening force with a V-shaped flattening member to only said gutter margins of the book after an individual page has been at least substantially said sequentially automatically turned over in coordination with said imaging of the individual pages of the book, and/or wherein said V-shaped flattening member is at least partially self-centering within the gutter margins of the book and automatically opens in response to said applying of said flattening force, and/or further comprising, imaging at least one said exposed individual page of the at least partially open book after applying said flattening force to only said gutter margin thereof with said V-shaped flattening member, automatically lifting away said V-shaped flattening member from said exposed individual page, automatically turning over another said individual page of the book, automatically reapplying said flattening force to another said exposed individual page to only said gutter margin thereof with said V-shaped flattening member, and imaging at least one said another exposed individual page of the at least partially open book, and/or a system for imaging the pages of a book with gutter margins, and unimaged outside edge margins, with a book holder for holding the book at least partially open so that the book has first and second open sides, and with a book page turning apparatus for automatically sequentially turning over individual pages of the book from said first side of the book to the second side of the book, and a book page imaging system for imaging said pages of the book; the improvement comprising, an automatic book clamping system with clamps operated by clamp actuators for sequentially only clamping said unimaged outside edge margins of at least one said unimaged outside edge margins of the at least partially open book, said automatic book clamping system clamp actuators operating to unclamp said clamps from said book outside edge margins in coordination with each said automatic sequential turning over of said individual pages of the book, and said automatic book clamping system clamp actuators operating to clamp said clamps onto at least one said book outside edge margin in coordination with said imaging of the pages of the book by said book page imaging system, and/or further including an automatic book flattening system including a flattening member and a force applying system for applying a flattening force with said flattening member to only said gutter margins of the book after an individual page has been at least substantially said sequentially automatically turned over by said book page turning apparatus, and/or a system for imaging the pages of a book with gutter margins, with a book holder for holding the book at least partially open so that the book has first and second open sides, and with a book page turning apparatus for automatically sequentially turning over individual pages of the book from said first side of the book to the second side of the book, and a book page imaging system for imaging said pages of the book; the improvement comprising, an automatic book flattening system including an angular V-shaped flattening member and a force applying system for applying a flattening force with said V-shaped flattening member to only said gutter margins of the book after an individual page has been at least substantially said sequentially automatically turned over by said book page turning apparatus, said automatic book flattening system operating automatically in coordination with said imaging of the pages of the book by said book page imaging system and in coordination with said book page turning apparatus for automatically sequentially turning over individual pages of the book from said first side of the book to the second side of the book without interference by said automatic book flattening system, and/or wherein said V-shaped flattening member has opposing variably movable side walls which automatically open relative to one another in response to said applying of said flattening force to increase said angularity of said V-shaped flattening member relative to said opposing gutter margins, and/or further comprising a clamping system for automatically clamping at least one outer edge of the book in coordination with said automatic book flattening system, and/or wherein said V-shaped flattening member has at least one edge roller for assisting the self centering of said V-shaped flattening member relative to the book gutter margins.
The disclosed system may be operated and controlled by appropriate operation of conventional control systems. It is well known and preferable to program and execute imaging, printing, paper handling, and other control functions and logic with software instructions for conventional or general purpose microprocessors, as taught by numerous prior patents and commercial products. Such programming or software may of course vary depending on the particular functions, software type, and microprocessor or other computer system utilized, but will be available to, or readily programmable without undue experimentation from, functional descriptions, such as those provided herein, and/or prior knowledge of functions which are conventional, together with general knowledge in the software or computer arts. Alternatively, the disclosed control system or method may be implemented partially or fully in hardware, using standard logic circuits or single chip VLSI designs.
The term xe2x80x9csheetxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cpagexe2x80x9d as alternatively used herein refers to a usually flimsy physical sheet of paper, plastic, or other suitable physical substrate for images. As is well known, for book printing with center binding, the book pages can be duplex printed xe2x80x9c4-up,xe2x80x9d that is, printing four pages per printed sheet, two on each side, in xe2x80x9csignaturesxe2x80x9d page order, and the printed sheet center folded and assembled with others into books and centrally bound. However, the term xe2x80x9cbookxe2x80x9d as used in the claims herein broadly encompasses various different bound documents. The pages of most books have non-image (unprinted) margin areas on both their binding or inner edge and their outer edge.
As to specific components of the subject apparatus or methods, or alternatives therefor, it will be appreciated that, as is normally the case, some such components are known per se in other apparatus or applications, which may be additionally or alternatively used herein, including those from art cited herein. For example, it will be appreciated by respective engineers and others that many of the particular component mountings, component actuations, or component drive systems illustrated herein are merely exemplary, and that the same novel motions and functions can be provided by many other known or readily available alternatives. All cited references, and their references, are incorporated by reference herein where appropriate for teachings of additional or alternative details, features, and/or technical background. What is well known to those skilled in the art need not be described herein.